SEO is truly a mindset a business or a person must realize that it is more than just search engine rankings. The companies and individuals that realize this are the ones that are really reaping the benefits of marketing themselves online in the search engine space. Great search engine optimization doesn’t just happen overnight or with some “tool” you found out there to make it happen quicker. Really good search engine optimization is a craft that takes time to acquire and the companies that are doing it right are visible in many areas.

Social media is an exact parallel, don’t you think?

Social media is more than just friends or followers

Success doesn’t just happen overnight or simply by using automation

It is a craft that takes time to hone and embed within the thinking of everyone at the organization

Naturally my next thought was to share a list on how to spot a great social media program. So here you go:

Well referenced across the industry/category

Not just on ranking or influencer lists – but media (all types) are organically referencing the brand (or artist, person etc.). As I noted in a post on the necessity for your brand to become referential – the benefits to this are clear:

The web is a referential medium. Bloggers and digitally-savvy journalists understand the concept of linking as a source, and instead of having to re-explain something already fleshed out, we just link as proof. It’s simple and as still as effective as ever, even in a real-time world.

And so, being referential remains a powerful position to be in. Whether your company blog, newsroom, resource center or even team members are referential, those in such a position have a decided advantage over competitors. It provides increasing returns as you’re spending far less effort on outbound efforts and can focus more on inbound.

Logical workflow across channels & integration with other communications

It’s obvious when looking at brands dominating their competitors socially they have consciously sculpted a workflow of content through their channels designed to achieve their objective. Content is syndicated in a way that provides value to users and also supports the growth of their community. Further, social is integrated across the company’s communications programs beyond just website buttons – they’re actually integrating into their larger communications strategy and dedicating resources to the effort. Companies truly at the edge are taking customer feedback from their communities and using it to improve their products ahead of competitors.

Consistent and creative

Great social media programs maintain consistency and share of voice over time. A mature social media program maintains consistency without sacrificing the signal to noise ratio. Concurrently those already in a groove with their efforts and maintaining share of voice understand that buzz is a critical element to inject into their efforts – and can pour fuel on already increasing metrics. But only after you have the basics down does buzz make sense.

Intersection of social media and SEO

Savvy online marketers understand that social media and SEO have an intersection point. Not that this hasn’t been in play for years, but with the engines explicitly saying they look at search signals, it should be clear enough for everyone that SEO and social don’t operate in a vacuum. Integration of search with social is just another element that separates the good from the great.

Working as a team – brands, partners, even customers

While many social media marketing programs start as efforts with just a few, the ones that show results end up drawing many from an organization in. Let’s face it, everyone wants to be a part of winning efforts. And success generally breeds more success – with partners and even customers getting into the mix bringing more visibility to the brand.

Passionate and motivated team

Recently I shared a post on ways to keep your social team motivated. It’s clear from the outside looking in that great social media marketing programs have a motivated team because, in essence they have to. There’s too much involved to make the best programs a success than to have this any other way.

Management is fully-bought in

The resource allocation necessary for truly great social marketing requires buy-in from management. But it’s more than just resources in the form of funding or team members. It’s trust. It’s comprehension and education. In fact, in the future we’ll see the way companies embrace social technologies shift, as Brian Solis puts it, from an outside-in, bottom-up groundswell to a top-down, inside-out pivot. No matter what the motivation or persuasion for companies to get social – if you talk with the management teams of companies running truly great social media programs you can tell immediately they are 100% bought in.

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Comments

SEO is more than search engine rankings and Social Media is more than friends and followers. This is key. And true online marketers understand that, although we are constantly trying to find ways to measure our efforts, it goes beyond just the superficial stats. A truly holistic strategy will result from taking in goals and measurements beyond these.

On a side note, it’s interesting to see the value of Twitter followers decline as you see so many companies and people that have tens of thousands of followers, but they follow that many as well. I’m more drawn to someone with a lot of followers that doesn’t follow an equal ration back, because that tells me they are likely providing quality content that people want in their streams whether they follow them back or not.

While many celebrities and popular accounts have an awesome ratio, others like @guykawasaki choose to reciprocate the follow. They can still be influential and retweet-worthy, but you might think they are spammy at first pass. Maybe there’s a better way to social-proof users on Twitter.

Couldn’t agree more about organizational buy-in. In order to successfully pull off a great SMM program there needs to be acceptance and understanding at all levels within an organization. What’s the point of running a really cool redemption program if no the offline execution is poor?

In our experience at Stuzo, we’ve seen that the best programs rely on 4 key ingredients: 1. Strategy and Planning – viewing the full calendar year and making educated decisions based on the information a brand has already been able to collect. Social isn’t a one and done experience

2. Day to Day Management – daily interactions with your fanbase and long-lasting engagement opportunities. As much as the brand wants users to engage and interact, you can’t expect the consumer to do all the work. Engagement is a two way street.

3. Large Scale Engagements – significant events throughout the marketing calendar that spike the growth of your fanbase. These are the moments that stick with fans and give brands the opportunity to really achieve viral growth through the development and amplification of earned media and user generated content.

4. Media Support – the fuel that starts the fire. Social Media is not Field of Dreams, so you can’t just say “if you build it, they will come.” Sure, some brands have had success with viral growth that didn’t require media support, but, if you really want your program to work then you need to make sure you reach users in places beyond just your facebook page.

About The Future Buzz

The Future Buzz is a digital marketing blog run by Adam Singer and updated by the entire site’s community of contributors. Adam works for the Google Analytics team by day.

The thoughts and opinions expressed here are that of each article’s writer and may not necessarily represent the viewpoint of Adam or his employer. Also note: any comments left on posts may be edited for readability, grammar or appropriateness based on editor discretion to ensure a civil and non-offensive discussion.